Vancouver ranked 17th best LGBTQ city in the world for 2017

Vancouver ranked 17th best LGBTQ city in the world for 2017

We like to pride ourselves in being pretty progressive and inclusive here in Vancouver – but maybe that’s not as true as we like to think.

In a recent ranking of the best LGBTQ cities in the world for 2017, Vancouver came 17th, way behind Toronto and Montreal.

The report from Nestpick.com, a Berlin based online housing platform, ranks Toronto 3rd and Montreal as 12th best LGBTQ destinations around the globe.

Nestpick, which aims to “help people relocate to the cities that offer them the best possible quality of life,” considered thousands of cities worldwide before narrowing their findings down to the top 100.

For a city to rank strongly as an LGBT destination, we determined that it must have a vibrant gay dating scene, a lively alternative nightlife, open minded citizens, and low levels of hate crime. We also took into account the national laws affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, such as the right to get married or adopt children. Once calculated, the final scores reveal the top 100 Best LGBT Cities for 2017.

A maximum available score of 25 points was available with scoring resulting from the following calculation:

Vancouver received a total score of 20.85. Montreal scored 21.51, while Toronto scored 22.69.

Meanwhile, the best LGBTQ destination in the world was judged to be Madrid, Spain, which scored 23.56, followed by Amsterdam in the Netherlands, with 23.26.

Nestpick conducted several different polls throughout 80 different countries as well as asked “over 2500* participants from each city to give three lifestyle factors a rating out of five stars: the strength of their city’s gay dating scene, the quality of its LGBT nightlife, and the openness of their fellow citizens.”

Interestingly, if ranked by dating score alone, New York comes top, while for LGBT nightlife, Berlin in Germany ranked highest.

Meanwhile, San Francisco ranked highest for openness in the city, Munich in Germany came first for safety, and Madrid came top for LGBT rights.

For a full breakdown of the methodology, including all factors included in the scoring, and a complete list of the top 100 best LGBT cities in the world in 2017 you can go here.

The report was release to celebrate LGBT Pride Month and commemorate the 48th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Positive Living Magazine

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